The Hindu : Karnataka News : Cooperative Service Commission on the anvil

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Jul 19, 2004

Karnataka

Karnataka

Cooperative Service Commission on the anvil

By Our Staff Reporter

BANGALORE, JULY 18. The Principal Secretary, Cooperation Department, A. Ramaswamy, said here on Sunday that the State Government was planning to set up a Cooperative Service Commission to recruit professionals to cooperative societies.

Speaking at the inauguration of Higher Diploma in Cooperative Management (HDCM) at the Regional Institute of Cooperative Management (RICM), Mr. Ramaswamy said the aim of establishing the commission was to strengthen the cooperative movement and make it more efficient.

The Government was also planning to amend the cadre and recruitment rules to instil professionalism among government officials and enable them to specialise in a particular field after serving for 10 years, he said.

"An official, who has served for 10 years in a government department will be allowed to choose any field of specialisation such as general administration, industry or financial sectors. The official will be trained in the chosen field and deployed in the particular department," he said.

Mr. Ramaswamy said the Centre should sanction a Rs. 30,000-crore package to the cooperative sector for its revival.

"The steel, cement, tea and rubber industries get annual packages of Rs. 15,000 crore to Rs. 20,000 crore for their development. Similarly, the cooperative sector should also get funds so that it can gear up to compete with the private sector, he said.

He suggested that a meeting of chief ministers could be held in Bangalore on the matter.

He said: "2005 is the cooperative centenary year and we should request the Postal Department to bring out a special stamp in memory of the founder of the cooperative movement, Ramanna Gowda Siddanna Gowda Patil, who registered the first cooperative society in Gadag in 1905."

He said a requisition should be sent to the department at the earliest as it required at least one year to make preparations to release the stamp. Earlier, the institute Chairman, B.S. Vishwanathan, and the Chief Executive of the National Cooperative Union of India (NCUI), Bhagvathi Prasad, urged the Government to recruit only trained personnel to cooperative institutions. This would give recognition to diploma courses in cooperative management, Mr. Prasad said.

The Agriculture Minister, K. Srinivasa Gowda, the NCUI President, S.S. Sisodia, and the institute's Regional Director, M.M. Vagganavar, spoke.

The MLC and Chairman of National Federation of Urban Cooperative Banks and Credit Societies Ltd., H.K.Patil, the President of Karnataka State Cooperative Federation Ltd., G.T. Deve Gowda, and the Chairman of National Cooperative Consumers Federation, Ram Iqbal Singh, were present.

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